Hat with deployable mask

ABSTRACT

A hat with a built-in flexible facemask mounted on the bottom front edge of the hat. By raising the hat above the user&#39;s head, the mask falls out of the interior of the hat into a deployed position in front of the user&#39;s face.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.12/366,478 filed Feb. 5, 2009, which claims the benefit of provisionalU.S. Application No. 61/026,382, filed Feb. 5, 2008, and is acontinuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/626,761, filed Jan.24, 2007, which claims priority of provisional U.S. Application No.60/766,520, filed Jan. 24, 2006, all which are incorporated herein byreference in their entireties.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to an apparatus for hunting, andmore particularly to a hat with an attached face mask

Camouflage is an important tool of a hunter. Camouflage serves to breakup the outline of the hunter, and makes it harder for an animal to seethe hunter. One situation in which camouflage is especially useful iswhen trying to cover a hunter's face. Not only are animals able to spottwo eyes more readily than other features in the environment, but ahunter's light colored face can appear quite contrasting to thesurrounding green and brown tones in the environment. What hunterssometimes do to prevent their light face from being easily visible toanimals, is to put coloration on their skin in the form of black, greenand brown, camouflage paint. One disadvantage with using camouflagepaint is that it can be uncomfortable on the skin, and it tends to makea mess out of the hunter's hands and clothes.

An alternative to camouflage paint on a hunter's face is the use of afacemask. The facemask has the disadvantage that it can obscure thehunter's vision when he is traveling and make it hard to see things at adistance. It also restricts the hunter's peripheral vision.

In a typical hunting situation, disguising the face is only needed whenan animal is at close range to the hunter. One situation is when ahunter is in a hidden position, and an animal either wanders close tohim, or is called close by the hunter through the use of a call. Whenthe animal comes close to the hunter, the hunter would need to put on afacemask in order to disguise the bright appearance of his face. Thatmoment is exactly the time that a hunter needs to put on a facemask, butit is also the worst time to put on a facemask because he likely has toput his weapon down, use both hands to put on the facemask, possiblytake a hat off, then put it back on once the facemask is adjusted, pickup his weapon, look around and try to find the animal again, and by thattime the animal most likely has seen the hunter's movement or heard thehunter and is long gone. Additionally the typical face mask is hot,cumbersome, and bulky, reduces hearing, and is slow to put on.

What is needed is a facemask to camouflage a hunter's face which can beinstantly available to the hunter when needed, but which can be out ofthe way of the hunter's vision when it is not needed. Ideally it wouldallow the hunter to put on a mask covering over his face merely bylifting the hat into the air, then replacing the hat on the huntershead.

Also needed is a facemask which is always ready to be used, but whichcan be tucked away inside a hat or removed from the hat so that the hatmay be used when the hunter is driving or doing other non-huntingactivities.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention is a clothing device for use by people in the outdoors.The clothing device includes a hat body, which can be a billed orbaseball type hat. The hat has a bottom edge, to which the bill or brimis attached. The clothing device also includes a flexible facemask. Thefacemask is attached to the front bottom edge of the hat, on the sameside as the bill in the case of a baseball type hat. The facemask isconfigured to hang freely from the bottom edge of the hat body, and tobe foldable into the hat body so that it can be worn in a storageconfiguration. In this way, a person may wear the hat with the facemaskdown when he is in the field, and tuck the facemask into the interior ofthe hat when he wears the hat driving or to town. The facemask isspecifically made so that by merely lifting the hat into the air by thebill of the hat, the face mask falls out of the hat interior, and is inplace in front of the hunters face. This allows minimal movement whenputting on the mask.

The facemask's primary role is to serve as a facemask for hunting. Whenused by a hunter, the hat can be lifted to allow the mask to drop whenthe hunter wants to cover his face. The facemask is dimensioned so thatit covers the user's entire face and most of the sides of the face andneck.

The facemask can be of a sheer material which is suitable for seeingthrough without the use of eyeholes. However, it can also be providedwith eyeholes and the user can adjust the hat so that the eyeholes matchthe location of his eyes by adjusting the position of the hat on hishead. No window material, either clear or colored is used in the facemash whether it is made with or without eyeholes, as there is alikelihood of reflection from a window surface that would defeat thepurpose of the camouflage mask. One optional feature of the facemask isthat it can include a moldable material which can be shaped into a formselected by the user. The moldable material would be positioned adjacentthe front bottom edge of the hat, along the edges of the facemask. Theuser could form the moldable material into ear scoops adjacent theuser's ear. These ear scoops aid in directing sound to the user's earand thus increases the user's ability to hear. Panels of a fabricselected to minimize sound attenuation can be positioned of over theears of the user to minimize attenuation of sounds. The best way knownto implement the ear panels is to use a mesh fabric with larger openingthan present in the rest of the facemask.

The invention can be configured so that the facemask is removable, andin this form would be attached or removed from the hat body by the user.One embodiment of the facemask includes positions for holding headphonesin the facemask, so that the headphones are adjacent to the user's ear.These headphones can be used to listen to a radio, recorded music on anumber of different types of devices or for wireless communication fromone person to another. Similarly, a microphone may be built in to thefacemask for wireless communication between users. The headphones andmicrophone can be separate from the facemask and be attachable to thefacemask by the use of pocket snaps or hook and loop attachments. Aversion of the headphone can also include these devices built into thefacemask.

In those versions of the facemask which include eyeholes, the eyeholescan be provided with a way to close or cover the holes. The holes can becovered with a hook and loop closure, snaps or other devices. Theeyeholes can also be covered by flaps of fabric which can be secured inplace over the eyeholes by similar means. The purpose for covering theeyeholes is to give the user the option of using the eyeholes forvision, or to not use them and see through the fabric instead.

The hat utilized is a type of hat which includes a bill; the bill wouldcontain a left and right side which join at the bottom edge of the hat.The facemask also includes a right and left side of the facemask whichalso join the bottom edge of the hat. A preferred configuration of thedevice is one in which the facemask covers the hunter's entire face, thesides of his face, and most of the hunter's neck.

The facemask preferably includes a mask border which is made of aheavier material than the facemask. This heavier border is provided toincrease the mask resistance to movement in the wind.

In the kit version of the device, a flexible facemask is provided forremovable attachment to the front bottom edge of the user's hat, and theflexible facemask is configured to hang freely from the front bottomedge of the hat body. Like the facemask described above, the facemask ofthis version is configured to be foldable into the hat body so that itcan be worn with the facemask out of sight. The facemask is dimensionedto cover the user's entire face and neck, so that when it is hangingdown from the hat and moved to hang over the user's face, substantiallythe user's entire face and neck are blocked from view by the facemask.Attachment strips are provided for this version of the facemask, so thatthe attachment strips may be attached to the hat. Once the attachmentstrips are attached to the hat, the facemask may be attached to theattachment strips. The attachment strips may be attached to the hat byadhesive means, or by other conventional means of attachment. Thefacemask would be attached to the attachment strips by hook and loopsurfaces, or other similar methods. The facemask is preferred to be in agenerally parabolic shape, with a more or less straight edge oppositethe parabolic curve. The straight edge would be attached to the brim orbottom edge of the hat.

The hat and facemask can be made of a fabric which absorbs odor, such asScentloc or Scentblocker° fabric, or other commercially available scentreducing fabric brands. The hat is preferably made of a stretchablematerial. Mouth and nose holes are also optional features of thefacemask, and may further include multiple fabrics so the user may moldthe most comfortable shape around his face and nose.

The purpose of the foregoing Abstract is to enable the public, andespecially the scientists, engineers, and practitioners in the art whoare not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determinequickly from a cursory inspection, the nature and essence of thetechnical disclosure of the application. The Abstract is neitherintended to define the invention of the application, which is measuredby the claims, nor is it intended to be limiting as to the scope of theinvention in any way.

Still other features and advantages of the present invention will becomereadily apparent to those skilled in this art from the followingdetailed description describing preferred embodiments of the invention,simply by way of illustration of the best mode contemplated by carryingout my invention. As will be realized, the invention is capable ofmodification in various obvious respects all without departing from theinvention. Accordingly, the drawings and description of the preferredembodiments are to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and not asrestrictive in nature.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a side view of the hat with mask in the folded position aswell as in the hunting or deployed position.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the hat with mask with the hat and mask in thehunting position.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the hat showing the device in kit form with adetachable facemask.

FIG. 4 a is a version of the hat showing closeable eye holes.

FIG. 4 b is a view of the facemask showing the eye holes closed.

FIG. 5 is a side view of a version of the hat and mask which includesadditional devices and pockets.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

While the invention is susceptible of various modifications andalternative constructions, certain illustrated embodiments thereof havebeen shown in the drawings and will be described below in detail. Itshould be understood, however, that there is no intention to limit theinvention to the specific form disclosed, but, on the contrary, theinvention is to cover all modifications, alternative constructions, andequivalents falling within the spirit and scope of the invention asdefined in the claims.

In the following description and in the figures, like elements areidentified with like reference numerals. The use of “or” indicates anon-exclusive alternative without limitation unless otherwise noted. Theuse of “including” means “including, but not limited to,” unlessotherwise noted.

Several preferred embodiments are shown in FIGS. 1-5. FIG. 1 shows thehat and mask device of the invention, which is designated as 10 in thefigures. The device includes a hat 12 and a facemask 14. The hat 12includes in the preferred embodiment a bill 16 and a lower edge 18. Thelower edge 18 includes a front edge 20, with the bill 16 attached to thefront edge 20 of the hat 12 and the facemask 14 attached to the frontedge 20 of the hat 12. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is included apair of eyeholes 24, but it is to be understood that eyeholes 24 are notrequired for this device to work. There are many sheer fabrics which areavailable which can be provided as a facemask 14, through which the user26 can easily see with very little obstruction to his vision. FIG. 1shows the hat 12 with the facemask 14 of the invention in a position inwhich the bill 16 is over the user's face and the facemask 14 is foldedin the interior of the hat 12, as well as the deployed position coveringthe face.

The hat can be made of a number of different materials, includingcotton, cotton polyester blends, nylon, of other materials. The facemask can also be made of a number of materials, including those listedabove, as well as Gore-Tex, Lycra, cool max, Scentloc° or Scentblocker°fabrics, or any other fabric that met the physical needs of the mask. Agenerally stretchy material works best, so that a “one size fits all”mask configuration can be utilized.

FIG. 2 shows the hat 12 with mask 14 in a deployed or hunting position.In the hunting position, the facemask 14 is over the user's face, andthe hat bill 16 is over the user's face. The transition from the hatposition to the hunting position shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is accomplishedmerely by raising the hat into the air, so that the facemask 14 fallsout of the interior of the hat. This allows a facemask 14 to cover theuser's face, neck and eyes, to reduce the user's visibility to animals.The facemask 14 can be made of a number of different fabrics or colorpatterns, including various types of camouflage color patterns. Shown inFIG. 1 is a mask edge 28 which is preferably made of a thicker andheavier material than the rest of the facemask 14. The mask edge 28 isprovided to add increased weight and stiffness to the facemask 14 and toresist deflection of the facemask 14 by wind. This mask edge 28 can alsobe formed by rolling up the facemask material, and sewing it in place.The facemask 14 can include a moldable strip 30 which is a materialwhich can be molded by the user to form either a flat area continuouswith the mask edge 28, or a scoop (not shown) like region adjacent tothe user's ears. When molded into the form of a scoop-like feature, themoldable strip 30 can be used to create a shape which reflects soundinto the user's ear, and thus improves hearing for the user. Thefacemask 14 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is preferably of a lightweightmaterial which may easily be inserted into the hat 12, so that the hatmay be worn with the facemask 14 completely concealed inside the hat 12and on top of the user's head.

FIG. 3 shows a version of the hat 12 with facemask 14 in which thefacemask 14 is attachable and removable from the lower edge 18 of thehat 12. This version of the invention can be provided in kit form, withone or more attachment strips 32 provided for attachment adjacent theperiphery 18 of the hat. The attachment strips can be adhesive, or hookand loop. The facemask 14 can have a strip of hook and loop fabric whichcorresponds to the attachment strips 32. In this way, the facemask ofthe invention can be added to any of the user's hats by use ofattachment strips 32. The facemask 14 can also be attached by the use ofsnaps 36. Also shown in FIG. 3 is an ear panel 50 that can be made of amaterial specifically selected to minimize sound attenuation.

FIGS. 4 a and 4 b show a version of the hat in which the eye holes 24include cover flaps 38. The cover flaps 38 can be fixed in an openposition as shown FIG. 4 a, or can be closed to a closed position asshown in FIG. 4 b. Hook and loop fabric patches are one way to securethe cover flaps in the open or closed position, as shown in FIGS. 4 aand 4 b. The purpose of the cover flaps 38 is to give the user theoption of having a mask with or without eye holes 24.

FIG. 5 shows a version of the hat 12 and facemask 14 combination of thedevice in which the hat 12 includes one or more pockets 42 adjacent tothe lower edge 18 of the hat 12. The facemask 14 can be attached to thehat 12 as has been discussed above. The facemask 14 can include pockets42 to hold a microphone 44 and earpieces 46. The earpieces 46 andmicrophone 44 can also be built into the fabric of the facemask 14, orcan be secured to the facemask 14 either externally or internally. Thepockets 42 can be utilized for holding such articles as batteries, FMradio, mp3 player, music players of various types, two way radiotransmitters and receiver, or other similar devices.

The facemask 14 is configured so that it covers the entire face of theuser 26, including the user's ears and front of the user's neck.

A strap (not shown) can be attached to the facemask 14 for adjusting thefacemask 14 for fit on the user's face. The strap would store along theedge of the facemask 14, and when the facemask 14 is in use in front ofthe user's face, could be used to secure the facemask 14 to the usershead by extending from one edge of the facemask 14 to the other edge ofthe facemask 14, behind the users head and neck.

A further feature is a mirror (not shown) which can be attached to thebill 16 of the hat 12, and can be folded into a storage position, orfolded into a position available for a user to use the mirror to seeobjects behind him. The reflective surface mirror would be facing therear of the hunter, so would minimize the chance of reflections beingseen by the animal.

While there is shown and described the present preferred embodiment ofthe invention, it is to be distinctly understood that this invention isnot limited thereto, but may be variously embodied to practice withinthe scope of the following claims. From the foregoing description, itwill be apparent that various changes may be made without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the followingclaims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: forming a hat body of a hatsuch that the hat body includes a cavity and an opening into the cavity;selecting a fabric of a facemask based on one or more properties of thefabric allowing for the facemask to have a storage configuration inwhich the facemask is folded into the cavity of the hat body while thehat is being worn and based on the one or more properties allowing forthe facemask to be taken out of the storage configuration by turning thehat body such that the opening is facing downward; and attaching thefacemask to the hat body in a manner that allows for the hat to be wornwith the facemask in the storage configuration and in a manner thatallows for the facemask to be taken out of the storage configuration byturning the hat body such that the opening is facing downward.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising attaching the facemask to a frontportion of the hat body.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting thefabric of the facemask based on one or more properties of the fabricincludes selecting the fabric based on its flexibility.
 4. The method ofclaim 1, wherein selecting the fabric of the facemask based on one ormore properties of the fabric includes selecting the fabric based on itssheerness.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising forming a pairof eyeholes in the facemask.